Meet my bookshelf. It stands in my apartment and carries some of my favorite things: many books that I have read, lots that I haven’t yet. An awesome little textile rendition of my Richard character that my dear sister made for me. Some paintings I did when I was into acrylic and canvas one cold winter, including one I did on a cheap Converse knockoff. My old camera that introduced me to photography. Documents and receipts. A Coke bottle I liked so much I brought it home with me from a vacation in Croatia. A shoebox filled with small, trivial objects that remind me of my childhood. The kind of stuff you’d find in a shelf.

And it’s really just that: a bookshelf.

It’s also my most popular photo on Flickr. It has over 4000 views, almost over 30 favorites, it’s featured in 2 galleries, has provided me with invites to numerous groups, has won two Flickr group prizes and for a while it was one of the top results on Google Images. Whoa!

Why do I mention all that? Self-praise stinks, as we say in Germany. Well, it would, if I were trying to take credit for it, but I’m not. The whole thing just developed a life on its own, and I think it’s hilarious! Really, I love the irony: of all of the effort I put into my photos, it’s the boring, 2-minute, full frontal shot of a bookshelf that grabs all the attention.

Some time last year, my friend Thomas and I decided to drive to the ocean rather spontaneously. For reasons beyond my control, we didn’t leave early enough, so somewhere along the way, we realized we wouldn’t make it there before it got dark. We decided to stop at the next city and look around instead.

It’s more like returning from the netherworld of non-existence, really. I can’t remember when I took down my old site, but it’s been years. I don’t think anyone believed I’d ever get a new site launched. Hey, can’t blame ‘em. But here it is, in all its wonderful grayness.

So what can you expect from the new and improved parasight.de? Well, first and foremost, it’s an experiment. The site is a combination of a portfolio, a blog and a photobook, all in one continuos stream. There is no classic site structure with hierarchic navigation levels, no grid system, no key visual, no search or other things considered necessary on a website. The content is the experience. You can browse by type for an overview, but when you use those arrow keys at the sides of the posts, you’ll wander through the entire stream, no matter what type of post you’re currently on. Feed subscribers will get that exact same experience.

I have plenty of other places to share my quick thoughts, stuff that I like and music I consider awesome, so this space will be about writing out ideas and thoughts that need more than 140 characters, and showing some of my personal work. There isn’t much to see here, yet, but I will fill the site with life over the next weeks.

I’m not sure if this experiment will work as well as I anticipate, but if you’ll join me on this journey, I’ll try to make it worth your while.